The invention relates to a door with an integrated door stopper and an operating mechanism for the door stopper which is integrated into the door lock housing.
Conventional door stoppers are usually mounted onto the door panel. They are generally designed for foot operation and generally include a bolt which is to be pushed down by a foot into engagement with an underlying floor in which position they are then locked by an engagement mechanism which can be released by a foot-actuated release lever. Those door stoppers are generally very sturdy and therefore quite voluminous so that they detract from the appearance of a door. They are therefore generally used only on house doors or other doors which need to be held open at times but not on room doors or patio or balcony doors of residential homes.
However, there is a need for door stoppers for doors in residential homes because it is often desirable to hold the doors partially or fully open for example for airing the rooms in a way which ensures that the door is not rapidly opened or closed by wind or drafts in such a way that damages occur by the door or door handle hitting for example furniture pieces or the wall causing possible glass in the door to break or the furniture to or walls to be damaged. Because of the unattractive appearance of the door stoppers in connection with interior doors, there is no demand for such door stoppers and they are therefore also not available for use in connection with interior doors, and consequently other unattractive and cumbersome devices such as wedges or cords or chains are used to hold the doors in open or partially open positions. These devices however generally do not really lock the door in a position but only prevent the door from closing, that is, they do not permit locking a door in a partially open position.
It has already been tried to integrate door stoppers into door panels. The German GM 1780520 from 1958, for example, discloses a door stopper which is to be integrated into a rabbet area of a door panel and coupled with the door handle. This door stopper includes a door stopper pin which is provided with an engagement rubber structure and is biased downwardly by a compression spring. It is coupled via an operating linkage disposed in a door rabbet with a lever arranged at the outside of the lock housing and connected to the square shaft of the door handle. When the door handle is pressed downwardly, the door stopper pin is moved upwardly against the spring force so that the door can be moved. Upon releasing the door handle, the door stopper is activated and arrests the door in its momentary position. However, this known proposed structure is not usable in practice for several reasons: For one, already the arrangement of the linkage and the lever connected to the square shaft on the outside of the door lock housing is not practical since then a free space must remain next to the door lock housing in the door panel so that the lock housing is not firmly engaged within the door panel as it is the case in the normal arrangement in which the lock housing is inserted into an opening cut into the door panel so as to tightly accommodate the lock housing. On the other hand, the arrangement is highly annoying as the door can be moved only when the door handle is pressed down which is awkward and unusual and therefore not acceptable.
Another proposal of a door panel-integrated door stopper which is also impractical is known from the German Utility Model 1 805 041, wherein again a door stopper pin provided with a braking rubber member is biased downwardly by a compression spring and includes a linkage which is disposed in a door panel rabbet and provided at its top and with a lever fork extending at opposite sides of the lock housing. When the door handle is pressed down, the door stopper pin is raised via the linkage by means of a lifting lever which is connected to the square shaft of the door handle and a spring-loaded locking finger engages the raised lifting lever so that the door stopper pin remains in the raised position and the door can be moved. For releasing the door stopper, the door handle must be moved upwardly whereby the locking finger is moved out of engagement with the lift fork. The arrangement however is such that already a slight unintentional lifting of the door handle causes the release of the door stopper resulting in an unwanted blocking of the door. The main problem however is the arrangement of the operating mechanism at both sides of the lock housing which requires space that is not available in a standard door so that a thicker door panel is needed. In addition, the free space needed at opposite sides of the lock housing in its accommodation opening in the door panel or the door rabbet for receiving the door stop mechanism results in an unstable engagement of the lock housing in the door panel.
Further, in an arrangement known from DE 1 968 078, a door stopper, which is pre-tensioned by a compression spring in a release direction, can be pressed downwardly by way of a cam lever by upward movement of the door lever, which however does not appear to be a solution which is compatible with the common door locks.
Finally, DE 1 947 291 discloses an arrangement wherein a door stopper pin which is biased downwardly by a compression spring is connected by way of a steel cable to a lever which again is arranged on the side of a door lock housing and which is operable by the door handle.
All these arrangements do not fulfill the requirements of a normal door lock housing which has a standard size so that it can be accommodated in a standard opening for firm engagement therein. They require additional cut outs in the door for which special tools and time are needed and which weaken the support and engagement of the door lock housing in the door.
It is therefore not surprising that those arrangements have not found acceptance in praxis.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a door stopper integrated into a door panel in such a way that it is practically invisible and with an operating mechanism which is integrated into the door lock housing in such a way that no spaces outside the housing need to be provided in the door panel so that commercially available door lock hardware can be used.